The English-language edition of The Last Eunuch of China -- Life of Sun Yaoting was recently published by the Beijing-based China International Press.

Its author Jia Yinghua, now 57, is known for his serial biographic works about Emperor Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the last dynasty in the Chinese history, and the royal family.

Sun Yaoting (1902-1996) used to be an eunuch serving some members of the royal family, and he followed Pu Yi till his last years as the puppet "emperor" of the so-called "Manchukuo" in northeast China, created by Japanese aggressors and in existence from 1931 through 1945.

Jia, a Beijing native 50 years younger than Sun, happened to be a close friend of Sun. In their long-time talks, the former eunuch told his young friend lots of inside stories about the "last emperor" and the royal family. Sun allowed Jia to record these stories with a tape-recorder and a video-tape-recorder.

Jia had already published the Chinese edition of the eunuch's biography and a Japanese-language edition.

So far, Jia has written six books on the royal family. Jia said he wanted to translate his books into major foreign languages to help foreign readers better understand the history of China.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2009)